The Way Forward
by Aussie
Summary: BSG RDM /Heroes/BtVS/Angel/SG1/SGA/possible Terminator crossover. The Colonial Fleet has found Earth, a devestated wasteland but not without life. It is the life that they find which will aid humanity in moving into the promised land. Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: **Hi all. This is a re-write / reimagining of my stories "Balance of the Universe", "Cycle of the Universe", and "Origins".

This will be a crossover between BSG (RDM) / Stargate SG1 / Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel / Heroes / Stargate SGA and MAYBE Terminator (whether that be Terminator movies or Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I do not know yet). The main setting of this story will be in the BSG (RDM) verse. What I mean by that is that the mythology aspect of BSG (i.e. the all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again, and even 'rivers and streams' that Leoben goes on about) will be the main aspect tying all of these universes together in my story, and governing what happens.

This is a crossover between a number of shows that have some ability to have their universes mesh, but not much. Hence, I am reserving the right to keep the 'overall' story / back-story of each universe the same, but change some small details (i.e. add a story of what happened to the Alterans upon getting to the milky way, and making this tie into the formation of the 'great alliance' and the 'plague' that wiped out most of the Alterans'.) These events did occur, but I'm going to be tweaking how they occurred.

This chapter is mainly background, but describes some very important things that have happened in the history of my story. If you like the whole 'mythology' aspect of BSG, You'll LOVE this. Also, the Quotes at the start of the story are what the entire story will be based around.

And if you read this and it was very short, i've updated this chapter significantly since then. I thought i was ready for bed, but stayed up doing this.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own BSG (RDM), SG1, SGA, BTVS, Angel, Heroes or Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I do not intend to make any profit from this story except my own personal enjoyment.

**Spoilers / Timeline:** BSG S4E10 (but up to current episode to be safe) / SG1 all episodes and movies / SGA all episodes / end of heroes chapter 3: Villains / all episodes of BtVS / all episodes of Angel / not really any spoilers for Terminator because its involvement is more a setting, rather than plot/character involvement.

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"_**This is not all that we are."**_

_The Colonial Sacred Scrolls, Chapter 1, Verse 1:1_

"_**Life here began out there."**_

_The Colonial Sacred Scrolls, Chapter 1, Verse 6:2. _

"_**All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again."**_

_The Colonial Sacred Scrolls, Chapter 2, Verse 1:1_

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_Chapter 1_

_~150,000 years ago. Circinus Galaxy._

_3 Cycles Ago_

A tragedy befell a great race in a distant galaxy. For the first time in their known history, they became culturally divided: split into two factions at war with each other. The two factions were physically similar in almost all regards, however there was a very subtle physical difference between the two. This had always caused tensions between the two factions, even though they considered themselves one race. One faction called itself the Alterans, the other, called itself the Ori. The events that resulted in the split between the factions was un-imaginely complicated and messy, but it resulted in a war killing billions, if not trillions. The war was caused by many issues. The main issue though was the role of religion and science in their culture. The Alterans believed that science held the key to the future evolution of their race, the meaning of life, and the various questions surrounding the afterlife. The Alterans believed that all sentient species must be treated equally and allowed to develop on their own. The Ori on the other hand, believed that they should play a pivotal role in the development of 'lesser' species within their galaxy, and that spirituality was the key to the meaning of life. They believed that they had a 'divine creator' who had given life to their entire race eons ago. This creator was likely a race of beings, not too dissimilar to themselves, but which had developed on a separate tangent and as such, had technology and abilities beyond their imaginations. Both races had the ability to create life; create new species based on their own image. The Alterans chose not to, believing to do such a thing was to play God, a role that they had no right to play. The Ori believed that they had every right to create a new race, as the ancestors had supposedly done to them.

During the war, in one surprising, swift attack, the Ori managed to destroy the majority of the Alteran fleet and defences, allowing them to launch an attack on the Alteran civilian population. Realising that they had lost the war, the Alterans gathered their remaining forces and fled the local region of space. They were pursued by the Ori across the galaxy and into the next: the numbers of surviving Alterans rapidly dwindling. Eventually, the Alterans lost the Ori and were left to drift through the ends of space, alone and vulnerable. Throughout their journey, the Alterans noticed that the surrounding galaxies were devoid of life. There were no habitable worlds that they had come across and hence, no signs of life. To the minds of some Alterans, it added salt to the scars that maybe the Ori were right in their beliefs; why else would their home galaxy have an abundance of habitable worlds when the surrounding ones did not. The Alteran Fleets had the capabilities to terraform a number of different worlds but chose to remain moving, distancing themselves from the Ori forces.

It was not until the Alterans entered a new galaxy cluster that they encountered any signs of life. They entered a spiral galaxy possessing thirteen predominant galaxies surrounding it. Later, they would call the galaxy the Milky Way Galaxy. The Alterans settled on a small planet in one of the outer arms of the Milky Way Galaxy and began to multiply and construct their defences. But there was something very different about this galaxy than the last. The majority of the Alterans felt as if there was a subtle presence watching over and observing them. Later generations would discover that the earlier generations were not wrong. The later generations would learn that the Ori were correct; something had created their races eons ago, and the Alterans in their haste to flee the Ori, had escaped to the home galaxy of their creators. The beings were far older, more powerful, far more dissimilar, and far more violent than anything the Alterans could fathom. The Alterans would later come to call this race the _Old Ones_.

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_~90,000 years ago. Milky Way Galaxy._

_2 Cycles ago_

Most wouldn't call it a war that occurred between the Alterans and the Old Ones. The technology of the Alterans allowed them to barely survive and not be squashed like ants when they started expanding, spreading transportation devices to other worlds that were not their own, interfering with the plans of Illyria, Hectate, Apollo and Zeus to name just a few. A single individual of the Old Ones possessed many physical bodies and many consciousnesses, each of which worked together and made the whole, much like a hive mind. But, yet, the 'hive mind' of an Old One had more cohesion and acted much more like a singular entity than expected. The multiple bodies of an Old One existed across multiple realities and planes of existence. According to the Alterans, these Old Ones seemed as if they were able to manipulate the very fabric of the universe themselves; having the ability to manipulate actions across multiple realities to achieve a greater outcome. What's more, each of the Old One's multiple bodies were seemingly indestructible, and with separate but united consciousnesses, the multiple bodies of one individual could work together seamlessly if required and under a great threat, which, according to the Old Ones, could only be delivered from another of their race. That was what constituted only one individual of an entire race numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

What's more, the Old Ones commanded armies comprised of other beings they had created. Sub-ordinates, foot soldiers, spies and many more. These beings were seen as demons in the eyes of the Alterans

The Old Ones, although seemingly infinite in their source of power, were more tied to the cycles of the universe than their creations. All things in the universe go through cycles of waxing and waning. Fortunately for the Alterans, the cycle was waning and the Old Ones were losing their power. The Alterans formed an alliance with other great races in the surrounding galaxies; others the Old Ones had created. The Asgard, The Nox, the Furlings and the Alterans joined together to create the 'Great Alliance' and drive the Old Ones out. Even the diminishing power of the Old Ones was not able to withstand the constant grinding of the 'Great Alliance'.

The Great Alliance achieved partial success. They had managed to destroy the majority of the armies of the Old Ones, but they could not kill the Old Ones themselves. Through sheer luck, the Great Alliance was able to systematically transfer the Old Ones consciousnesses into sarcophagi, devices that would hold the consciousnesses of the Old Ones until the universe began its waxing phase and the Old Ones regained their former power. It was hoped that civilization as the four races knew it would have ceased to be when this occurred as none of the races had existed when the Old Ones were at the height of their power. Even then it was believed by many within the four races comprising the Great Alliance that they had only succeeded in trapping the Old Ones because they had also been battling something else, something unseen and even more un-imaginable than the Old Ones themselves. Yet, that did not matter to the Four Races. The children of the Old Ones had effectively killed their parents, and it was time for them to come into their own.

However, the Old Ones were not defeated that easily. Illyria, just prior to her defeat, released a virus into the bodies of each of the four races. The virus transformed the individual. It enhanced the senses and abilities of the Four Races, but it also made them require the blood of their own kindred to survive. Furthermore, the virus was transmitted from an infected individual into another via the saliva glands. Any individual that was not killed by an infected individual soon became infected themselves. It was known as the Vampyr virus, and it decimated the Alterans, the Nox, the Asgard and the Furlings. In order to combat the virus, the Asgard engineered a solution for their own bodies: they created genetically engineered bodies to be resistant to the virus and downloaded their consciousnesses into these bodies. The Nox were greatly weakened by the virus and succumbed to the wrath of less developed races because of it: races that they had just liberated from the dominion of the Old Ones. Eventually they found a spiritual method of removing the virus from their species, but because of their civilization had been raped and plundered by less developed cultures, they retreated into the shadows. The Furlings did not survive the virus. It spread throughout their ranks much quicker than any other race and drove their species to extinction. The Alterans were not able to find a solution to the virus within their bodies so easily. They decided to shed their bodies and transfer their consciousnesses into the next realm, something that required great spiritual and technological sophistication and wisdom to accomplish.

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_~10,000 years ago. Milky Way Galaxy._

_1 Cycle Ago._

Not all of the Alterans were able to achieve ascension, as they called it. A very small number were left behind. These individuals, left in the shells of their former civilisation, quickly fractured. One group left for another galaxy, the Pegasus Galaxy, leaving all their infected and suspected infected behind on their home planet, Earth. The other group left for another star system and named the planet they settled as Kobol. The Kobolians' ranks were still being scythed with the Vampyr virus, and they broke the traditions and beliefs of their ancestors. They broke the beliefs that had caused a fracture in a great race in a distant galaxy. In an attempt to preserve what was left of their culture and civilisation, the Kobolians created life. They stepped their creations backwards in terms of evolutionary development in an attempt to create an immunity to the virus. The virus spread more rapidly within the parts of the Alterans bodies that gave them 'higher' functions than their creations. It took them two attempts to create a species immune to the virus, and subsequently, two different species were produced. One species was still susceptible to the Vampyr virus, although in a limited capacity when compared to the Alterans. The other species was completely immune. Hence, Human and Cylon were born. The Alterans knew that viruses can adapt, and in an attempt to preserve their creation, they banished the Cylon, vulnerable to the virus, back to the ruins of the Alteran civilisation on Earth. They took the remaining species, Humanity, to a system that they had created specifically for them: a system with twelve habitable worlds far from any other civilization in the galaxy. Hence, the 12 Colonies of Man were created. The Kobolians, proud of their achievements, returned to Kobol to document their legacy. Knowing that they would succumb to the Vampyr virus, they left a final warning for the 12 Colonies: "Any return to Kobol will result in death". Little did they know the Vampyr virus would not kill them, but their own creations. Some of the Cylon that they had banished, upon reaching Earth and not liking what they saw, returned to Kobol. The children of the Kobolian Cylons killed their parents, nuking the planet from orbit.

The remainder of the Kobolian Cylons had arrived at Earth only to find it populated by the Alterans that had been left behind from the other faction that had not ascended. Most of the Kobolian created Cylons settled onto the planet, infiltrating the ranks of the Alterans and integrating into their society. The Cylon were genetically compatible with the Alterans on Earth, and soon, a hybrid race was born. This race chose to call itself humanity.

The Cylon and Alterans on Earth soon dwindled in numbers both because of the Vampyr virus, and because of inter-breeding between the two races. The Vampyr virus was still prevalent within the hybrid race. The last surviving Alterans created a weapon that they hoped would keep the Vampyr virus at bay. They created life again: a single line of human that would have increased speed, reflexes, strength and an ability to sense the infected. They named the first of the line, the Vampyr Slayer. Little did they know that the name would stick.

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_Present Time, Milky Way Galaxy, Earth._

_Present Cycle_

Their entire journey had been for this. The 12 Colonies had struggled, endured and survived, for what? A devastated wasteland. The ground was radioactive, as likely the water, the air, the clouds, and what little life remained on the planet. Ruins of a civilisation they had never known lay around them, and all over the planet. Above them, the fleet waited, hoping to hear the good news. They all would have been better off at the 12 Colonies. At least, there, they had twelve devastated wastelands instead of one. They had the remains of their civilisation rather than the remains of another.

"Earth," he heard Laura Roslin say, her voice sounding like a mix of bitterness, disappointment and sadness. Tyrol turned to look at her, and for some strange reason, all he could hear going through his mind was a basic article of the Colonial's scripture.

"_All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again."_

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**You like? Please review! It will keep me inspired.**

And yes, there will be actual characters in this story.

And No, i'm not going to lay out how Earth got incinerated so easily as learning about the rest of the history of the story.

And if you like how i've integrated the SG1/SGA, BtVS, and BSG storylines above, it's going to be just as seamless integrating the Terminator, Heroes, And actual SG1 storylines. But, please note, there will be NO appearances by any SG1 Members in this story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Notes: **Thanks Shadow of Chaos for the review. Regarding your comments, the Old Ones in this story are from the Angel universe, however the theme of the story is 'all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again', so its likely that the Old Ones were the creations of something else. Also, I hinted in the first chapter that the Old Ones may have been busy with something else when the 'great alliance' attacked... maybe they were rebelling against their creators as everything else has done in this universe. Anyway, for the purpose of this story, we won't be going too much back to the time of the 'Old Ones' in their hayday and it will primarily be a story about the shows I mentioned in the A/N of the first chapter – hence ,the Old Ones being the most powerful beings we'll come across. There are more powerful beings, but for the purposes of this story, the Old Ones are almost too difficult to comprehend for our mere mortal characters, and hence, delving into a lot of detail beyond that wouldn't serve the story much.

**Spoilers: **BSG S04E11 – Sometimes a Great Notion.

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_**Chapter 2**_

_Four years since the Colonial Exodus from the Colonies. Earth._

_Present Cycle_

Helo was digging with the rest of the group. They had found a mound with a metal cross sticking out of it, a few hundred metres to the south of where they had landed. Helo couldn't fathom the significance of the cross, but he guessed that it was a religious symbol or a symbol of protection to the people of Earth.

It hadn't taken too long to discover what they'd found: a mass grave. When they had finished excavating the area, there were over twenty human looking skeletons that had been buried within the grave. It was Helo that had uncovered the first of the personal effects remaining in the grave. It was two sets of dog tags that were around one of the skeletons, both sets hung on the one chain. They seemed to be made out of an unknown metal that suffered little corrosion and wear and tear. The dog tags, apart from the dirt that stained them, looked as if they'd been made the day before. Suprisingly the language on the dog tags was readable to Helo.

"Hey, I found something over here," he said, holding up the dog tags. He watched as a few people came over to see. He brought the dog tags back down to his face and read out the names that he found on them. "They're dog tags. They belonged to a John Connor and a Sarah Connor."

"Soldiers," D'Anna said. "Obviously, they weren't on the winning side," she added.

"I don't think there was a winning side here," Dee said to her, looking back over the grave. Everyone started to break off and go back to what they were doing, when Helo heard a shout about twenty metres away.

"We've found something," he heard Baltar exclaim. Helo observed as a six walked up to their excavation site curious. As she saw what was inside, she was taken aback, halting in her steps immediately. Helo didn't realise that he was walking towards the excavation site, and as he observed similar reactions from others, his curiosity continued to grow.

As soon as he saw what was in the pit, he stopped dead in his tracks, just like everyone else. Before him lay a mechanical construct nothing like he had ever seen before. It was a metal skeleton, robotic obviously, seeming to be made out of the same material as the dog tags he had just collected. It was nothing like the Cylon centurion, much more human in appearance. Just the look of it though, made Helo think that it had been made to hunt humans.

"What is that?" Helo asked no one in particular, knowing that he wasn't likely to get an answer.

"The last thing you'll all ever see unless you start explaining," he heard a strange voice pronounce behind him. He turned, with everyone else, to see that a young, blonde haired girl had appeared behind them all holding some kind of strange looking rifle, pointed straight at Helo's head.

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Appearing in the vicinity of the landing site, they watched as the various craft descended from the sky. They'd both heard the crack of the sonic boom of a craft flying overhead in Boston. They'd even managed to see a few of the aircraft flying overhead. It came as a total alarm to both of them, not hearing anything man made for the last thirty years. In the first few years, there had been survivors that they had encountered, pitiful wrecks of people; stragglers that would catch up to the rest in dying, whether they'd liked it or not. After those first few years, they'd only had about ten encounters with anything else that was living on the planet, and neither of them was sure that one of the things they'd encountered was living. It was powerful and insane. From the one time they'd talked to it, it was not unmoved by their situation, and perfectly fine with spending what was likely to be millennia on the planet relatively alone.

It liked to play tricks on them when it was bored. They had a whole planet to hide from the thing on, but somehow it would manage to find them whenever it wanted. She was wondering if this was one of those tricks, but it seemed highly unlikely. The tricks it liked to play were usually very personal, reaching into their thoughts and dreams.

The had a stockpile of weapons, food and other miscellaneous items in Boston. She'd gone by it and grabbed a pulse rifle before they headed off towards the landing site. At least then, if IT was playing tricks on them, she'd have something to annoy it with.

It didn't take long to reach the landing site, although it was in New York. Peter's abilities allowed them to take multiple jumps into New York and pinpoint the landing site, and then jump there instantaneously, appearing behind some ruins. She was surprised when they saw people step out of the vehicles and not machines. She didn't think it possible that they'd missed a whole group of survivors, especially with Peter's abilities. He'd be able to sense the thoughts of anyone in the vicinity if he wanted to, in the early days at least. He wouldn't try it now; thirty odd years out of practice. He was likely to kill somebody if he tried.

"Look," Claire Bennet said to Peter who was crouched behind some ruins beside here. Claire was pointing to a craft that had landed with the rest, but it was distinctly different. It looked cold, calculating and lethal.

"It's got multiple chain guns on its front," Peter said, referring to the craft that Claire was pointing to. "Not something we want to be firing at us," he said, referring to the fact that multiple bullets flying around would increase the likelihood of one of them entering one of their brains and killing them, temporarily at least.

"We should go and talk to them," Claire said.

"No. We don't know anything about them," Peter replied.

"It's not like they can kill us," Claire said, then adding "easily."

"No. We'll wait," he replied. Claire didn't like it, but she understood where Peter was coming from. All Claire wanted to do was to go and see _other_ people, _new _people, but Peter was cautious, even now. She knew why he was: they didn't know anything about these people, where they'd come from, or why they were _here_ of all places. They'd landed on the site that they believed John Connor had made his last stand against the machines. They could have been machines, evolved into human form that had not been affected by the EMPs, coming to desecrate the gravesite of the leader of humanity for all Claire knew. She also thought that they could be people who had come out of hiding after so long, not even realising the war was over.

"_No, stuff it,_" Claire thought. These were the first people they'd seen in probably twenty seven years. Claire wasn't going to let them slide away back to wherever they came from without talking to them. If they were friendly, it would mean that the constant pressure on her mind could ease: the constant pressure of wondering whether she was going, or already was, insane.

"I'm going. You can come get me if I get in trouble," Claire whispered to Peter. She didn't even wait to see the reaction of his face before she grabbed the pulse rifle and started to sneak up to a ruined brick wall that was closer to the landing party.

Slowly, Claire went from barricade to barricade, getting closer to the landing party, until she was at the last point that she could hide from their view behind cover. She looked down at the pulse rifle and pulled back on a sliding lever sticking out the side of it, activating the rifle. Thankfully it came to life with a quiet hum. She could feel the slight vibration of the power flowing through the rifle in her hands as she raised the rifle, and without making any sound, slowly stepped out from behind the pile of rubble she was hiding behind. She could now see that the entire group of survivors was crowded around an excavation site, and quickly, she closed the distance until she was only fifteen feet away from them. Claire Bennet could see them looking at the dead exoskeleton of a T-1000 that they'd just uncovered from the earth.

"What is that," she'd heard the closest one say. Quickly, she pointed the rifle to his head before she replied,

"The last thing you'll all ever see unless you start explaining," Claire said in a commanding tone, making sure that they knew she meant business.

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The air filled her lungs as Kara Thrace took in a deep breath. Although the air was irradiated, it was still fresher than the recycled air on the Galactica and it made her feel slightly more alive and refreshed. Even though she knew the entire planet was sick, Kara felt as if she belonged here, as if this was her home.

The wind had died down and Kara had noticed that it was eerily quiet. She was away from the main group and couldn't hear a thing except Leoben's approaching footsteps behind her. A raptor had flown overhead probably about five minutes ago, but it had vanished into the distance, most likely doing a scout of the surrounding area.

"Why have you stopped," Leoben asked her. Kara barely heard the words, simply not allowing them to penetrate her mind and interfere with her thoughts. She had been standing as still as a statue for the last few moments looking ahead of her at a burned out Viper, with a body still in the cockpit. She watched as Leoben walked past her, approaching the body of the Viper. He reached down and fiddled with the body, and then pulled something off the charred flight suit. Kara could tell from where she was that they were dog tags. "Kara," he said, looking up at her alarmed. "They're yours."

That wasn't what Kara Thrace was looking at though. Beyond the Viper, Kara could see a figure standing behind the trunk of a tree, watching them. Slowly, it moved with a graceful, but yet predatory manner towards them. She quickly glanced to Leoben to see if he'd noticed yet, but he was too wrapped up in the Viper and the dog tags that he'd found.

As the figure got closer, Kara had the distinct feeling that she knew it. It clearly wasn't human, having mostly blue features and wearing a red kind of suit, appearing much like protective armour. Immediately, for some reason, Kara noticed the silence again. The creature approaching them didn't make any noise as it moved, the grass seeming to shift away from it as it walked through it.

It was when Leoben saw the creature and recoiled in a start that a memory inside Kara seemed to trigger. She knew what this creature was, and the name spilled from her lips unknowingly.

"Illyria," Kara said. She saw the creature nod in recognition.

"You brought them. Good," she replied in a cool and measured voice while looking at Leoben.

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**You Like? Please Review!**


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